The Talk
by lizandhenry
Summary: Just a one shot based off "Game On". Elizabeth has a little talk with Allison about what happened when she was in Venezuela


_A/N: Hi guys! Ugh, no M Sec this week caused me to dust off this fic. I wrote it a long time ago (right after Game On), but I was never really 100% happy with it and not to many people had posted stories focused on the kids. But Adii1201 read it and encouraged me to post it. So i tweaked it a little and decided to post it to help get us through this week! So here it is, a little one shot based off the end of Game On. Hope you like it!_

 **The Talk**

Henry had had just about enough of Stevie's unwillingness to forgive mother. She couldn't even hug her nicely. "Babe, why don't you help me with these," he asked after she hung up with Isabelle.

She nodded, joining him at the counter, knowing he really didn't want her help, but that he wanted to talk.

"I've had enough of watching Stevie treat you so badly. After breakfast I'm going to have a long talk with her." He said, wrapping his left arm around her waist while the right arm mixed pancake batter.

She smiled, taking another sip of her coffee "While you are at it see if you can get her to come clean about what really happened the other night."

"Yea I saw her look at the staircase twice when she was explaining what happened."

"She's covering for Allison. Security ran background on James Montgomery. He goes to Allison's school. So Stevie probably picked him up for her." Elizabeth said quietly.

Henry's eyes went wide at the intel. He expected that type of behavior from Stevie, not from Allison. "When are they going to learn they can't lie to you, your ex-CIA?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "And if you are going to lie you gotta come up with a better excuse then milk; have we taught them nothing?"

Henry laughed "Babe, Ally is a terrible liar. She's too sweet."

"Alright, well I'm going to take Allison for a girls day today, see if I can get her to open up. She's way too boy crazy for her age."

He swatted her behind playfully, "Good. Now get outta here, I'm making pancakes."

She laughed and took her coffee upstairs in search of Allison. She found her in her room engrossed in her iPad.

Knocking on the halfway open door before entering, Elizabeth smiled. "What are you up to?"

Allison looked up and shook her shoulders, "Nothing." She replied, like the typical teenager as her mother sat beside her on the bed.

"Got any plans for today?" Elizabeth tried again, receiving another shoulder shrug. "Well your dad has some writing to do, and Stevie will probably leave after breakfast, so I was thinking maybe you and I could spend the afternoon together." She paused wrapping one arm around her daughter, "I was thinking we could go out to lunch and maybe get a manicure or go shopping…or"

Allison finally cracked a smiled, returning her mother's hug "Yes. Absolutely."

Elizabeth smiled and kissed Allison's forehead. "Alright, let's go have breakfast. Dad's making pancakes." Allison tossed her ipad aside and followed her mother back to the kitchen.

***The Talk****

Dressed in skinny jeans, flats and a button down with a cardigan over it, Elizabeth was ready to go. Normally she wouldn't have looked that nice to go shopping, but now that she was Secretary of State she had to maintain a polished image in the off chance there were any photographers around.

Allison knew the same was true for her and made sure she looked presentable, yet casual in skinny jeans, a henley top, scarf and flats,

As the pair left the house, Fred walked ahead and opened the SUV door. Allison entered first, followed by her mother. "Where to ma'm?"

"The nail place." Elizabeth answered, knowing Fred knew the name of it. She couldn't remember but it was one frequented by all the power women in DC. "And can we stop at Starbucks on the way?" she added, desperately needing more caffeine.

"Yes m'am." Fred answered. "Will it be the usual Skinny Vanilla Latte?"

"Yes; oh Ally do you want anything?"

"I'll have a Chocolate Frappuccino."

Elizabeth handed Fred her credit card though the window so he could go through the drive thru. Fred handed the girls their drinks and her credit card back before closing the partition. "Thank you Fred."

They arrived at the upscale nail salon and informed the receptionist they were here for their appointments. "It will be just a moment Madam Secretary. Go ahead and pick your colors." She replied

"Ally, go pick something for me." She asked her daughter. Ally's eyebrows lifted. "Come on, you always tell me what's cool. Just make sure it's work appropriate."

Ally nodded and went over to the nail polish rack, selecting the very trendy dark purple almost black color for her mother and a seafoam green for herself.

By the time she was done her mother was already seated in her pedicure chair, enjoying her latte and the back massage. She had never been one for regular mani/pedis, but frequent 12 hour days in 4 inch stilettos quickly caused them to be bi-weekly occurrence.

Allison took the chair next to her mother, handing her the polish she selected, before taking off her shoes and rolling up her jeans. "Oh I like this Ally."

The pair enjoyed their pampering chatted about the latest Hollywood gossip. "Where do you want to eat Noodle? I'll call and reserve a table?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Wherever."

She knew they had to go someplace where they could get a semi-secluded table to appease Fred. "Hmm, do you want to Seasons?"

"Sure."

Seasons was a semi upscale restaurant located at the Four Seasons Hotel, and one of the places on Fred's pre-approved list of places to eat. She pulled out her phone and called to make a reservation; rolling her eyes at the "Absolutely, Madam Secretary." After she had given her name for the table

After their nails were done Fred followed them to the waiting car and closed the door behind them.

Since Allison still had not brought up James, she knew she had to over lunch. It was probably a wiser place to talk than the busy nail salon. It was frequented by all of DC's power women and was a good place to start and spread rumors.

Since they had moved to DC; Allison had been was with her boyfriend Josh, then he broke up with her. She then had a quick rebound romance with Flint Summers, and then there was the Indian prince, and now this James Montgomery. And those were all the boys she knew of. Allison reminded her too much of herself at 14 and that scared her. She had a sinking feeling of what Allison was planning to do that night with James, or had done for all she knew right now, and she knew she had to put a stop to it. And not by yelling or forbidding; that would only drive her further away. She would have to take a different approach.

After ordering salads and iced teas; Elizabeth decided to be blunt. Breaking a piece of fresh French bread she asked, "So Allison, tell me about what happened when your dad and I were in Venezuela."

"Nothing happened." Ally shrugged, putting a piece of bread in her mouth.

Elizabeth sensed her nervousness to tell the truth for fear she'd be in trouble. "Who's James Montgomery?" she questioned gently

"Did Stevie rat me out?" Allison demanded.

"No. Allison, I was in the CIA, did you really think I wouldn't figure it out?"

"Am I in trouble?" she asked hesitantly

"Yes, and how honest about what happened that night will help or hinder your punishment." She assured her daughter without raising her voice. "And just so you know, I'm more mad about you lying and having Stevie lie for you than I am about whatever might have happened."

"Understood. I'm sorry Mom."

Elizabeth nodded and managed a small smile, scrunching up her nose. "Okay, I really don't want to ask you this, but did you…."

"No!" Allison exclaimed

Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god." She paused a moment. "Were you planning to?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of…." Elizabeth repeated, thinking.

Allison could tell her mother was trying to ask the proper next question so she decided to be honest, since her mother was being seemingly understanding. "Look, James and I had been talking at school. He's a senior and on the soccer team. When I told him you were going to be gone that weekend he asked if he could come over. So he did and we were having a good time. He said he brought protection in case and well nothing happened because Stevie made him leave when I invited him up to my room. And I tried to text him the next day and he hasn't talked to me since. So you don't need to worry about it because….we're not even talking now." She explained.

Elizabeth nodded, trying to process the fact they she literally almost took this boy up to her room but that Stevie had been the one to stop them.

She was given a few more seconds to collect her thoughts because just then their salads arrived. They thanked the waitress and Elizabeth turned her attention back to Allison. Elizabeth really dreaded these conversations, in that she didn't have much experience on the topic. Her own parents died when she was a little younger than Allison, so she never really had the sex talk with her own mother; so she wasn't exactly sure how to approach it - she just sort of went with it. She had obviously had the generic sex talk before, but now that her girls were older it was time for the respect talk. She prided herself on treating her children like adults; and part of that was an open and honest communication system – not overbearing rules. She and Henry approached each parenting situation openly; not giving the exact same rules to all three children.

"Okay. First of all thank you for being honest." Elizabeth smiled at her. "Second of all I'm really glad you didn't. Just…why did you want to sleep with him Ally?"

"He's a senior. It's just one of those things….if you date an older boy…."

"Whoa, whoa, stop right there. You do not have to that with ANYONE, not matter how old they are. And you should never base any relationship on it. And if a boy doesn't like you because you won't, then he's not worth your time. Got it."

Ally nodded quietly, looking down at her salad. "Got it."

"Okay. I know you've heard the sex talk before. But let me just re-iterate one part for you. If you are going to have sex, please, please tell me Ally. We'll get you on the pill ok because condoms break, and kids your age put them on wrong."

"Mom!"

"Ally."

"Okay, okay."

"But now I think we need to have another sex talk, the respect talk. Ally, you are 15. And yes, I'm going to tell you that you are too young to be having sex, because I'm your mother and that's my job. But what I'm going to tell you woman to woman is that you shouldn't be rushing into this. And here's why. Once you do it, you can never take it back. And at your age, with the way kids talk at school, I don't wouldn't want you becoming the girl that puts out. Because then guys will want to date for that reason, and not because they actually like you. That's a reputation that's hard to change. You have to have respect for yourself and your body. Ally, I don't want you to have to go through that. And as much as I try and protect you from the press; if that ever got out…" she shook her head, "I _really_ don't want you to have to deal with _that_. I know that part isn't fair, but it is our reality now."

Allison nodded and replied quietly "I didn't think about that."

Elizabeth stood up and slid in the booth next to her daughter, wrapping her arm around her shoulder before continuing, "And another reason, woman to woman is that the first time is terrible. It's not as good as everyone says. It painful, and it's never as good as you have it worked up to be in your head."

"It's not?"

"Oh no baby girl." Elizabeth snorted.

Ally paused before asking, "When did you…."

"I was 17. It was prom night." Elizabeth answered honestly. "I had a really hot date; captain of the football team. We got a hotel suite with some other friends. We had planned it, which made things kind of awkward – much like last night for you I'm sure. So we did it, it was over really fast and it was physically more painful than I thought. Emotionally too. I felt just really dirty afterwards. I cried actually. You know at your age, I was a little boy crazy. I was just looking for attention I guess, since my parents had died and all, and since I was pretty I got a lot of it. But I really wished I wouldn't have done that on Prom Night."

"If it's so bad, why does everyone say how good it feels?" Ally asked.

"Well honey, it's like this. People like to brag, and they embellish a lot." Elizabeth said and Ally laughed a bit. "It does get better as you get older. Part of that is experience, but mostly it's who you are with. When you find the _right_ guy – that's when it's…."she sighed, searching for a word, "incredible. And ironically, when you meet the right guy, you won't want to jump right in bed with him right away. Because you will both will want to make sure it's right, and he will respect you enough not to expect you to. And one night it will just happen and it will be great."

Ally nodded. "So you're saying, when you met dad…."

"Yep. We waited. Don't get me wrong, we wanted to and there were a couple nights we almost did, but we didn't. Then one night, when the time really was right, it happened. And it was great. It still is great. Because we respect one another, and if I say no, it's no. And of he says no, it's no. No questions asked."

"That's good mom, I think I get it. Borderline TMI."

"Okay." Elizabeth stopped, kissing her forehead" And I want you to know that if there's anything you want to talk about, or questions you have about….whatever, you come to me okay. No judgments."

"I know. It's just that you've been so busy and stressed, I didn't want to worry about me."

"Ally, of course I worry about you, I'm your mother. I worry about you more when you lie to me and don't come talk to me. I love when we have these conversations; this one was a little weird; but…"

"Okay mom." Ally rolled her eyes. "I'll bother you with the petty boring problems of a teenager more often."

"Is that a promise?" Elizabeth prodded.

"Yes."

"And can you promise me one other thing? Can you just stick to kissing boys for now?"

Ally nodded and laughed, hugging her mother once more. "Only if you promise to have more girls' days with me?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Deal. I love girls' day with you, Noodle."

Elizabeth gave Ally one more kiss on the forehead before returning to her side of the booth and they both dug into their salads.

"So what's my punishment?"

"I'll have to discuss that with your father and get back to you." She said, she and Henry were a team, and they tried to demonstrate that to their children often.

"You're not going to tell him about what we talked about right?" she was suddenly very embarrassed about her father knowing.

"I'm going to tell him you had a boy over."

***The Talk****

If Elizabeth dreaded the conversation she had with Allison, she most definitely dreaded the next one with Henry even worse. Henry was your typical dad, overprotective of his girls when it came to boys and sex. Before they stopped spying on Allison's texts, when she mentioned to him about senior Flint Summers, he had brought it up, "You know what that means, sex he'll push for it."

Now that it was somewhat of a reality in Ally's world, they'd have to deal with it again.

As they got ready for bed that evening she decided it was time to tell Henry. "So….Allison confessed; James Montgomery was here to see her the other night."

"I figured as much. Stevie wouldn't come clean."

"Well, Ally told me the whole thing, and I talked to her about it, extensively. She was planning on, you know….."

"WHAT!" Henry gasped in disbelief. How could his sweet, shy Allison be devising a plan to invite boys over when they were gone.

"I know. But Henry, nothing happened. To Stevie's credit; she foiled the whole thing and took him home." Elizabeth explained, trying to calm him down.

"What was she thinking….I knew…she..she shouldn't."

Elizabeth raised a hand to Henry's chest. "She wasn't thinking, she was trying to be cool and fit in. She…..but don't worry, I handled it."

"You handled it?" Henry pushed, wondering what that meant.

"Babe, she's 15. We knew this was coming – you said it yourself when we agreed to stop spying on her texts."

"Maybe we need to re-connect that app thing….she's out little girl!"

"Henry. I know, she's our baby girl. But she's a teenager, and soon she's going to be in college, so whether or not we want to think about it – she's going to have sex at some point."

Henry shook his head. "She's too young!"

"I know Henry, which is why we had a long and serious talk. But think about it, Stevie is going to be 21, she is probably is…."

Henry dipped his head into his palms. He didn't even want to think about that. "She's too young too!" he sighed.

"No Henry, she's not. We were married when we were 21. And we had sex long before that…."

"That's different."

"Oh really?" Elizabeth pointed out. "How so?"

"Times were different. We were mature and responsible…"

"Okay, I'll give you that, we were more responsible than Stevie is right now."

"Alright. I don't even want to think about this anymore. But what are we going to do about Allison?"

"Well, let me clarify, I handled it. I gave her the respect talk. And I told her that if she really wants to have sex to please tell me so I can make sure she's on the pill. I gave the same talk to Stevie."

"You told Stevie…"

"Henry. Don't start, we have to treat them like adults if we want them to act like it."

"She understands, but she still needs to be punished for lying."

"You're right. 2 weeks, no going out. And next time we take a trip – no company at all."

"Seems fair."

Elizabeth nodded and wrapped her arms around her husband from behind, kissing his neck. "You're such a great dad. Protecting this girls…."

Henry smiled. "Elizabeth, I have always dreaded this sex conversation…from the day they were born."

"I don't think we have anything to worry about though, I think both of them are too terrified to bring a date home to meet you."

"Great, so they will just do it in secret…."

"Babe, you're being too hard on them. Come on, don't you remember what it was like to be 16?"

"Of course."

"Well I did tell Ally, and hopefully she listens, but if not…she'll learn I was right when I said the first time is not fun and she will hopefully be turned off by it for a while."

Henry laughed, remembering his first time. It was pretty awkward all around. Then he turned to face his wife, cupping her cheek as he looked into her eyes. She was still just as stunning as she was when they met 27 years ago, when she was only Stevie's age. "I do remember our first time being pretty amazing though." He whispered.

She smiled, meeting his lips for a gentle kiss. "It was, and still is."


End file.
